April 20, 2024

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SK Chairman Chey Tae-won (SK)

SK Group said Tuesday it will establish a giant research and development center dedicated to green technologies.

According to the third-largest South Korean conglomerate, the R&D facility, tentatively named “SK Green Techno Campus,” will break ground in 2025 in Bucheon, adjacent to Seoul in Gyeonggi Province, and reach completion in 2027.

The facility, on a 198,000-square-meter site, will house some 3,000 R&D personnel from the group’s seven affiliates -- SK Energy, SK Geo Centric, SK On, SK E&S, SKC and SK Materials. The project will cost SK more than 1 trillion won ($835 million).

The campus will focus on next-generation battery and chip materials, carbon capture and reduction and renewable energy such as hydrogen.

The envisioned facility will add momentum to SK’s battery prowess. The conglomerate currently operates SK Research Center in Daedeok in Daejeon, where 1,200 R&D personnel of SK Innovation and SK On are working on more advanced electric vehicle batteries.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)